GASabresIUFAN

Don't like the Joki Power matchup either. Doesn't anyone on the Sabres actually look at our analytics? Also not sold on the Cozens line, but am intrigued by the All-American beef line of Tuch, Mitts, and Greenway. That line should be able to out physical anyone they play now that Mitts is also playing that game. This line is clearly DG modeling a line after the Foligno Erickson-Ekk Greenway line but with higher-skilled players. Benson remains with TNT.

While I agree Johnson starts in Rochester, as I wrote in my post, his play might dictate whether or not KA keeps 7 or 8 D in Buffalo. I believe Johnson may actually be the 7th best D in the organization. If management agrees that he is the 7th or 8th best D in the organization, then there is no reason to keep more than 7 D in Buffalo. The reason you don't start him in Buffalo is because there is no benefit from sitting him in the pressbox waiting for an injury. He needs to be playing and gaining experience.

Bad asset management is trading a prospect for a player the quality of what you can get on the waiver wire for nothing. Truthfully, we should be happy to lose any of these guys. None make our team better, none have any trade value except maybe the goalies, and all are easily replaced by others in the system, many of which actually have upside.

Apples to Oranges. I was pissed that KA didn't bring in a real D to help this team for a playoff run. Instead, he wasted a prospect on a bad hockey player who is still a bad hockey player. I'd be just fine if we added Stillman to our waiver wire and wouldn't miss him at all if he were gone.

Quinn is the 20th. I didn’t include him in my 12 NHLers because while on the camp roster he isn’t really competing for job right now. I fixed the post for clarity. Thx.

Are we really worried about losing any of Biro, Bryson, Clague, Comrie or UPL to waivers? These are all AAAA players at best. If Bryson is waived, he is unlikely to get claimed because of his cap hit. If claimed, Johnson or Davies become the 9th D. I can live with that. Johnson is probably the 7th best D in the organization right now anyway. If UPL or Comrie are waived and claimed, Tokarski becomes the 3rd goalie and his NHL and AHL numbers are better than UPLs anyway and I like what I’ve seen from Cooley as well. Cooley’s AHL number are better than UPL’s also. (Also if KA plans to dump either UPL or Comrie, he’ll find a trade partner. He’ll gets at least a late round pick). As to Biro, if claimed, we won’t notice he’s gone. Rousek, Kulich and Rosen are waiver exempt. Murray is also still around and we have two new AHLers who earned callups last year in Richards and Giroux.

@Brawndo , having Benson in lower in the lineup and using Krebs or Mitts on the wing would be my preference as well, but that doesn’t seem like the road DG is traveling. He has been very clear that Mitts will be at center and I think Krebs has been at center each preseason game he has played as well.

It looks like we are down to 33 players remaining in camp 20 forwards, 10 defense, and 3 goalies The 20 forwards breakdown as follows - 12 NHL vets, 3 AHL vets (Biro, Rousek, and Murray), 2 AHL kids (Kulich and Rosen), 2 CHL prospects (Benson & Savoie), and 1 on IR (Quinn). The D breakdown as follows - 8 NHL vets, 1 NHL/AHL vet (Clague), and rookie Ryan Johnson. The 3 goalies are the returnees from last season (Levi, UPL, and Comrie). The Roster questions remain" 1) Who gets Quinn's slot - Rousek (waiver exempt), Biro (must clear), Murray (must clear), Kulich (waiver exempt), Rosen (waiver exempt), Savoie (injured and goes back to the CHL) or Benson (CHL bound if he doesn't win the job). Right now Benson or Biro seem like the front runners. 2) How many D will we carry and can Ryan Johnson earn an NHL job in camp? The top 6 are set leaving Stillman, Bryson, Clague and Johnson (waiver exempt) to fight for 1 maybe 2 slots. I think Johnson starts in Rochester, but he has looked very poised with the puck. 3) Will we carry 2 or 3 goalies and who is the primary backup to Levi? Comrie has looked better in camp so far.

Actually, he would be replacing Quinn. I posted this up-thread as well. Rousek, Biro, and Benson are competing for Quinn's top 9 slot. DG is committed to Mitts at center, which knocks Krebs to the 4C and Jost to the press box. The 4th line of Z, Krebs, and Ko returns from last season. If you then allocate Skinner to TNT, Tuch to Cozens, and put the Minn boys Mitts and Greenway together, that leaves only JJP and VO to allocate from the returning forwards. This leaves a nice opening in the top 9 for Benson if KA chooses to go this route. Given that Benson has mostly skated with Skinner and TNT, the opening lineup might look like this: Skinner TNT Benson JJP Cozens Tuch VO Mitts Greenway Z Krebs Okposo (Jost)

I didn’t notice that. That’s great news.

Team played great and had a great game plan. Sadly an expensive win. Hopefully White and Benford get better soon.

Another issue with Benson is his contract. Sending him back slides his contract another year.

Truth. Jost, Z, KO and VO are all UFAs after this season. Somebody is going to replace at least 3 of those players. Sounds like a golden opportunity for Kulich, Rosen and Savoie. Hows this for a talented lineup Skinner, ThompsonBenson JJP Cozens Tuch Kulich Mitts Quinn Rosen Krebs Greenway I’m not even sure where you slot Savoie.

That’s the real question isn’t. Can they afford to play an 18 year old kid when contending for the playoffs? My answer is yes they can afford to take the risk. I would have argued like you did a few weeks ago, but seeing as Rousek, Kulich and Biro haven’t set the world on fire (although Biro has been solid) nor do they give us Quinn kind of upside at this point, I am willing to be more opened minded about it. After all, we are looking for a replacement for Quinn. Rousek and Kulich are waiver exempt. Biro would have to clear to be sent down, but I don’t think there is a huge risk of him being claimed. Looking at the forward group, I see Jost as the 13th forward with Z, Krebs and KO as the 4th line. If we allocate Skinner with Thompson, JJP with Mitts, and Tuch with Cozens, we only have two wingers (Greenway and VO) to allocate, leaving a nice juicy top 9 spot for Benson. I’m not saying it will play out this way, but it is a growing possibility.

On the negative, Benson, Thompson and Skinner were on the ice for all 3 CBJ goals. Clearly 2 way play still alludes the Thompson line.

Either the top 12 are the best prospects since McJesus or some scouts need to re-think how they do their jobs.

Benson looks so skilled. Can’t wait to see if he can maintain this level once we are playing an entire roster of NHL players. It would be very exciting if he can force KA to keep him.

They played a very good 3rd period. It was interesting to see that this deep into camp, Buffalo was playing all depth defenders with our 6th D (Joki) being the only NHL regular.

I don't think there are any rules that say players on a PTO have to be signed or released by ex-number of days in camp. After camp ends certainly, but not during camp. I believe that if the Sabres wanted to keep him up for another week they could have. It could be a simple numbers game and they want him to be a key cog on the Amerks and go from there, but I thought he had shown enough to keep him around a little longer. Not a big deal either way.

Is anyone else surprised that Metsa didn’t get a longer look?

The truth is all 3 are sub-replacement players. The problem is Jost and Bryson are being paid nearly $4 mill. I don’t think TP would be thrilled with dumping $4 mill to Rochester. KA would try to trade them for anything before waiving them and sending them down. I also not sure why you bring back Tokarski and sign a proven AHL netminder like Cooley if the plan wasn’t to move on from either Comrie or UPL. In fact, Cooley posted better numbers in the A last year than UPL ever did. I don’t think Cooley signs with Buffalo if he thought he’d be returning to the ECHL. Ultimately I think it shakes out as 13-8-2, but 13-7-3 wouldn’t be the worst thing as it would give Johnson a chance at an earlier callup,give KA and DG a longer runway to decide on who the ultimate backup to Levi would be, and also allow DG to build Levi’s work load more slowly. That said I doubt the 3 headed goalie monster lasts more than a month or 2.

What is the effect on the roster if we keep 3 goalies? The answer is we can only carry 7 D or 12 forwards. If they go the 12 forward route, then none of the kids are making the team or one of VO or Jost will have to be traded. Rousek is still waivers exempt but Biro is not. If they go the 7 D route, Bryson is the likely casualty. None of Bryson, Stillman or Clague are waiver exempt. Personally I don’t think keeping 3 goalies is the plan. They brought Tokarski back to be the 3rd goalie if necessary.

I got the impression from one of the interviews that DG has 30 players in mind from which he is going to construct the 23 man roster. In fact, he discussed cutting down from 65 to 30 before he’ll fully implement wants he wants the team to do this season. Here is the who I think the 30 are so far F - Definite Sabres (11) - Skinner, Tnt, Tuch, Cozens, Mitts, JJP, Greenway, Krebs, KO, Z and Jost Probably a Sabres (1) - VO Fighting for a roster spot (4) - Kulich, Rousek, Biro, and Benson. D - Definite Sabres (7) - Dahlin, Power, Mule, Joki, Clifton, EJ and Stillman Fighting for a roster spot (3) - Bryson, Clague and Johnson G - Definite Sabres (1) - Levi Fighting for a roster spot (3) - UPL, Comrie and Tokarski Wild Card - will they keep Savoie up to give KA and the coaching staff some time to get a decent look at him once healthy?

That would be a first. 😉

I did miss two things that need to be resolved in the 2nd half of camp. 7. Without EJ and Clifton playing, we still don’t really have a clue what the D pairings will look like. I didn’t like seeing Joki and Power back together. 8. Besides the battle for the open winger slot in the top 9, DG really hasn’t given much of a hint about where the established wingers will play except Skinner stapled to Thompson.